My purpose in writing is to encourage you and assure you that the grace of God is with you no matter what happens. I Peter 5:12
Every day is full of occurrences that can draw our attention to the greatness and faithful love of God. These writings link those average events to the spiritual truths they illustrate.

But to get the point where we can stand in our churches and sing these words honestly...well, we have to go through those lessons. Through the experiences of our lives we find that our God is good and loving and gracious and faithful and strong and true through those times when we are not.

And after a lifetime of learning, we affirm the truths;

"Let us exult and triumph in our troubles and rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that pressure and affliction and hardship produce patient and unswerving endurance.

And endurance (fortitude) develops maturity of character - that is, approved faith and tried integrity. and character [of this sort] produces [the habit of] joyful and confident hope of eternal salvation. Such hope never disappoints or deludes or shames us, for God's love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us." Romans 5:3-5 (Amplified version)

Whatever my lot

Thou has taught me (and I have learned it through demonstration and experience of Your strength, love, and faithfulness) to say

Monday, April 11, 2016

Because of how
the space time continuum works, it is impossible for us to truly go back and
remember how we used to be now that we are who we are. That being said, there are ways that give us
a pretty good idea; our own memories, the memories of others, writings, and ,
the thing that never lies, pictures.

A snapshot
from the past is always an interesting thing is it not?

Nothing like seeing a
picture and remembering that once you
were probably thinner, less wrinkled, had non-gray or more hair, and, to
current eyes, a really bad sense of fashion!

This weekend I
was treated to some snapshots via music as I pulled out some CD’s (hey, at
least they weren’t eight tracks!) from ten and twenty plus years ago. The first was the oldest, a pop artist whose
every lyric I identified with. His
sentiments were my own. This was my music,
my story.

It was like seeing myself with an 80’s perm…

The music was
angst-driven – ask my kids, I can no longer tolerate whiny music and when they
are the DJing in the car they know to avoid it. The lyrics were familiar and
reminded me of how I loved them and where I was and how I viewed life at that
time. What a picture…

The second CD
was more recent – Scott Krippayne’s Autobiography- from 2006. This had been in
my regular rotation of music around that time but had gotten down to the bottom
of the pile over the years – what a treasure to rediscover; like a photo with a
good friend.

When it got to
the song “You have been good”, my kitchen became a sanctuary and my heart
lifted in worship. These lyrics had been
true then and now I’d lived a decade longer I had even more proof of their
validity, or as the song itself says “Looking
back over a lifetime, the evidence is clear. In so many ways You’ve been good
to me”

If I never get to see another rainbowOr share another laugh with a friendIf I never stand barefoot by the oceanOr get to kiss my child good night again

If I never have another prayer that's answeredOr have another blessing come my wayIf this is all I know of heaven's kindnessFather, I would still have to say

You have been goodYou have been goodAnd I am in wonder how could it beYou have been goodYou've been so goodSo many ways You've been good to me

You have shown me mercy upon mercyGrace upon grace, time after timeBut I
know all too well what I'm deservingYet, You are still so patient and kind

If suddenly it all were endedAnd Your mercies disappearedLooking back over a lifetimeThe evidence is clearYou have been goodYou have been goodAnd I am in wonder how could it beYou have been goodYou've been so good In so
many ways You've been good to me.